Citigroup Pays $41 Million to Sponsor NYC Bike-Sharing Program
Emmanuel Dunand/AFP/Getty Images
New York will share any profits from the bike rentals with Portland, Oregon-based Alta Bicycle Share, chosen as its operator in September.
New York will share any profits from the bike rentals with Portland, Oregon-based Alta Bicycle Share, chosen as its operator in September. Photographer: Emmanuel Dunand/AFP/Getty Images
Citigroup Inc. (C) agreed to pay $41
million to sponsor New York City’s bicycle-rental program, which
Mayor Michael Bloomberg said will be the largest such system in
the U.S. when it begins in July.
The Citi Bike program, presented by the mayor and
Citigroup Chief Executive Officer Vikram Pandit at City Hall
today, will offer 10,000 bikes branded with the New York-based
bank’s logo at 600 docking stations in Manhattan, Brooklyn and
Long Island City, Queens.
The bike-share program, first advocated by the city
Transportation Department in 2009, would provide a low-cost
transit alternative in a city where almost half the workforce
lives within 5 miles (8 kilometers) of its place of work,
the department said in a planning document.
MasterCard Inc. (MA) CEO Ajay Banga, also at City Hall, said his
company would pay $6.5 million to provide bike-share stations
with “PayPass Tap Go” payment points and traditional
magnetic-stripe terminals as part of its Priceless New York
promotion of events and attractions for residents and tourists.
“We recognized an opportunity to play a meaningful role in
an initiative that will enhance the lives of New Yorkers,”
Pandit said. The program “will add a new, sustainable option to
help people navigate the city” and mean “fewer cars on the
road, less-crowded buses and subways,” and reduced air
pollution, he said.
Paris, China
Similar systems exist in Paris, with 20,600 bicycles;
Barcelona, which has 6,000; and Hangzhou, China, which offers as
many as 60,600, according to Paul DeMaio, a manager of MetroBike
LLC, operator of the Arlington, Virginia, portion of
Washington’s 1,500-bike system.
Other U.S. cities with installed or intended systems
include Boston, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Phoenix, Denver and
Chicago, the department said.
BIXI of Montreal operates a 5,120-bicycle system in that
city, and others in Toronto, Ottawa and London in the U.K.,
where it offers 9,200 bikes at 687 stations.
New York will share any profits from the rentals with
Portland, Oregon-based Alta Bicycle Share, chosen as its
operator in September. The company works with governments,
colleges and private companies in North America, Australia,
Europe and the Middle East, according to its websites.
The system will operate with no cost to the taxpayers,
Bloomberg said. Citigroup money will be used to buy the heavy-
duty two-wheelers, equipped with bells and rear and front
lights, and the installation of the docking stations, he said.
Membership Dues
If a rider reports a missing bike, the operator will impose
a $1,000 fee on the renter’s credit card, refundable upon the
bike’s return or upon a police determination that the bike has
been stolen, said Seth Solomonow, a Transportation Department
spokesman. Bike-attached GPS navigation systems will signal its
location to minimize loss and theft, Solomonow said. Proprietary
hardware would be required to detach the bike’s wheels and
handlebars, he added.
The system will have an annual membership cost of $95, with
options for day and weekly use. Members must be at least 16 and
may use the system for trips of as long as 45 minutes. Riders
using Citi Bikes for longer periods will be charged extra fees,
the mayor’s office said.
Installation of solar-powered, wireless docking stations
that accommodate between 15 and 60 bikes will begin in late
July, with completion of the 600 stations scheduled for 2013.
Helmets will be encouraged, yet not required, consistent with
state law, Bloomberg said.
The Transportation Department has distributed more than
50,000 free helmets since 2006 and installed more than 390 lane-
miles of bicycle routes since 2002, for a total of more than 700
miles of bike lanes, including parks and greenways, according to
the department’s website.
The mayor is founder and majority owner of Bloomberg News
parent Bloomberg LP.
To contact the reporters on this story:
Henry Goldman in New York at
[email protected].
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Stephen Merelman at
[email protected];
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